Police reveal man in photograph is suspect in slayings of Delphi teens

Police confirmed that two bodies found Tuesday were the missing teens from Carroll County: Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13. A search was called off Tuesday afternoon, when the bodies were found near Delphi.
Dave Bangert and Dwight Adams/ Journal & Courier

Indiana State Police say this man was walking near High Bridge in Delphi about the time that Liberty German and Abigail Williams were. If anyone recognizes this man, please call police.(Photo: Provided/Indiana State Police)

DELPHI, Ind. —The man in the grainy photo released Wednesday by police is suspected of killing Delphi teens Liberty German and Abigail Williams on Feb. 13, Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley said Sunday afternoon.

The man is not in custody, he said.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Tony Slocum said review of the evidence leads investigators to believe that the man in the photo — at the very least — participated in the killing of German, 14, and Williams, 13.

Slocum said the photo likely is grainy because it is cropped from a larger image taken Feb. 13 at the same time that the girls were hiking the trails east of the city.

German and Williams were hiking on Delphi Historic Trails the afternoon of Feb. 13 and did not show up with relatives arrived to pick them up. They were reported missing at 5:30 p.m.

Searchers found the girls' bodies about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday east of the High Bridge, about 50 feet north of Deer Creek.

Other than calling the case a double homicide — the first for the city in more than 20 years — police have said very little about the case. Initially, police didn't even call the man in the picture a suspect when they released the photo Wednesday.

Slocum said police have been working nonstop since the girls' bodies were found Tuesday. Standing outside Delphi City Hall, he motioned to the building, noting that police from local, county, state and federal agencies are working on a Sunday to track down the suspect in the photo.

Anyone with information about this case or the suspect is asked to call the tip line set up for this investigation — 844-459-5786.

Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby said Sunday afternoon that tips have been flooding in since the man in the photo was named a suspect in the killings.